6/27/2013 - Second full-length from the Nathan Williams-masterminded surf-hipster project, exemplified by a lot of physic self-flagellation, maybe because he feels guilty for writing a Christmas song for big-box chain Target, who knows. This is a stewpot of Grizzly Bear falsetto-surf, next-gen Big Black no-wave and ’90s-grunge, lyrical ideas inspired by Weezer, thus it meets all the minimum hipster requirements of Beach Boys, DIY and quirk while being okay to listen to whether or not you’re under peer pressure to pretend to like all that stuff. My overall impression was that of hearing some little skateboard brat doofing around with basic Spacemen 3 ideas and occasionally doing some cool stuff with noise-rock, there aren’t a lot of horrible moments except for the close of “Everything Is My Fault,” whose repeat fadeout is stolen note-for-note from Nirvana’s “All Apologies.” That’s either supposed to be ironic (unnecessary, being that Cobain’s attempt was ironic enough) or Williams isn’t aware that his fanboyism isn’t strictly limited to Weezer. I don’t grok the massive appeal of this, but, sure (all together now), it’s better than a lot of its contemporaries. B- — Eric W. Saeger